N.Y. resumes cell phone service in commuter tunnels

Cell phone service was restored in two major New York commuter tunnels late on Tuesday after being shut down due to security concerns following the deadly bomb blasts earlier this month in London.

Cell phone service in the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, which go under the Hudson River to connect New Jersey and Manhattan, was cut off on July 7 following the blasts that killed more than 50 people in London.

"Following ongoing consultation with security officials in New York and New Jersey, who have reviewed the circumstances specific to the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and based on current security information, the Port Authority determined it would restore cell phone service," executive director Kenneth Ringler said in a statement.

Cell phone service had also been shut off in the Midtown and Battery tunnels, which connect Queens and Brooklyn to Manhattan, on the day of the London explosions but was restored four days later by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

No specific reasons were cited by either agency for stopping phone service, but cell phones have been used to trigger bombs in the past. In March 2004 bombs in Madrid that killed 191 people on trains were fitted to mobile phones, using the alarms as timers.

New York has remained on high alert for another attack following the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks, which destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers.